The present invention relates to beverage dispensing machines, ice dispensing machines, and particularly relates to soft-drink or other beverage dispensing machines that also make ice for customers, along with post-mixing a soft drink.
Fast-service restaurants are busy establishments where every square inch of floor space is at a premium. Such establishments typically very busy, where customers demand quick service. Their demands include not only a hot meal, but also a cold beverage, all at a very fast pace. As a result, every piece of food service equipment and movement of employees has been well-engineered to attain quick service and fast customer turnover. At the same time, high customer satisfaction is also desired. One way to achieve high satisfaction is to insure that each customer""s order is correct, that the food served is hot, and that the beverage is cold. The present invention helps to insure that the beverage served to the consumer will be cold, while still maintaining fast service and quick turnover.
The beverage served with a meal is an important component of the meal. Some of the opportunities for improvement in the ice and beverage area include a need to produce and store ice for peak demand periods, and the resulting need for space for that accumulation. Once ice is produced and stored, it must be dispensed, preferably in an automatic or xe2x80x9chands-offxe2x80x9d manner, so that employee or customer contact with the ice is avoided. Equipment must be designed to dispense not only the beverage but the ice as well.
Present ice and beverage dispensers are not as well-engineered as they could be to achieve these goals. As one example, U.S. Pat. No. 34,337 discloses a soft-drink dispenser to which ice must be added periodically. Not only does this require the time of an employee, but soft-drink dispensers according to this patent frequently have an ice bin well above a convenient service level, that is, about chest-high for an employee or a consumer. Thus, an employee may be required to climb a ladder and dump ice into the bin from a high level, above the top of the bin. While not extraordinary demanding, the situation may be compounded by a long trip to an ice storage area in the rear of the restaurant, as well as numerous other employees or customers in the area of the ice dispenser. Thus, the trip to retrieve ice and replenish the ice and beverage dispenser may take time, inconvenience customers, and present an opportunity for accidents in a fast-paced area.
The situation may be remedied, in one way, by placing the ice machine up-front near the soft-drink and ice dispensing machine. This xe2x80x9csolutionxe2x80x9d may have several disadvantages, however. Ice-making machines take up a great deal of space; ice-making machines in the serving area or on the dining area floor also will not transport the ice several feet vertically into a dispenser; finally, ice-making machines tend to be very noisy, giving off heat as well as noise, as described in U.S. Pat No. 5,732,563. With these characteristics, an ice making machine near the point of dispensing would be very convenient but would also be very undesirable to consumers as well as to employees. When ceiling heights allow for it, an ice making machine is sometimes placed on top of a beverage and ice dispenser. However, this is not always possible, and does nothing to avoid the noise problem.
A remedy for the situation would be a soft-drink and ice dispensing machine that could be placed in a food-service or dining area, would make ice, and would deposit the ice in a position sufficiently high for dispensing. This soft-drink dispensing, ice-making machine would not suffer from the advantages of present ice-making machines, with a refrigeration system that gives off large amounts of undesirable mechanical noise and heat. The machine would also not require employees to get on ladders to service or clean the machine.
A beverage dispenser with an integral ice maker has been invented. The dispenser comprises a water system including at least one pump, an ice-forming mold, and interconnecting lines therefor. The dispenser also comprises a refrigeration system with a compressor, a condenser, at least one evaporator in heat exchange relationship with the ice forming mold, and at least one receiver having an inlet connected to the condenser. The refrigeration system also comprises a liquid outlet connected to an expansion device and a vapor outlet connected by a valved passageway to the evaporator, wherein the compressor and the condenser are remote from the evaporator. There is also an ice bin for receiving ice made by the water system and the refrigeration system, and at least one mixing valve for mixing and dispensing syrup and carbonated water chilled by ice made by the refrigeration system. There is also a housing, wherein the water system, at least a portion of the refrigeration system, and the ice bin are located within the housing.
Another aspect of the invention is a method of producing and dispensing a beverage. The method comprises producing ice with a refrigeration system having an evaporator remote from a compressor and condenser, the evaporator being housed inside a housing that also houses a beverage dispenser. The method then comprises harvesting and storing the ice adjacent to a heat exchanger, and cooling water and syrup in said heat exchanger by exchanging heat with the ice. The cooled water and syrup are then mixed to form a beverage, and the method includes dispensing the beverage. There are many other aspects of the invention, including the use of vaporous refrigerant during a harvest cycle of the beverage dispenser.
Another aspect of the invention is a beverage dispenser with an integral ice maker. The beverage dispenser comprises a housing and a carbonation system within the housing, and connections to sources of carbon dioxide and water, and a carbonator pump within the housing for pumping carbonated water. The beverage dispenser also comprises a water system within the housing comprising a water pump and ice-forming equipment, and a refrigeration system having an evaporator, a condenser, a compressor, an expansion device, and at least one receiver, the evaporator being located within the housing and the condenser and compressor being located outside the housing, and the at least one receiver having an inlet connected to the condenser, a vapor outlet connected to the evaporator by a valved passageway, and a liquid outlet connected to the expansion device which is connected in turn to the evaporator. The beverage dispenser also comprises an ice bin within the housing for receiving ice made by the refrigeration system; and a beverage dispensing system within the housing, the beverage dispensing system comprising at least two mixing valves and interconnecting lines between said valves and a source of syrup and a water source, at least one of said mixing valves receiving syrup and carbonated water. The interconnecting lines between the mixing valves and the syrup source and water source are in heat exchange relationship with the ice bin.
Another aspect of the invention is a method of producing and dispensing a beverage. The method comprises producing ice with a refrigeration system having an evaporator remote from a compressor and a condenser, wherein the evaporator is housed inside a beverage dispenser housing. The method also comprises harvesting the ice into an ice bin, and cooling water and syrup by exchanging heat with said ice and carbonating said water. The method also includes conveying said carbonated water and syrup to a mixing and dispensing valve, mixing cooled carbonated water and syrup to form a beverage; and dispensing the beverage.
Yet another aspect of the invention is a method for producing and dispensing ice. The method comprises producing ice with a refrigeration system having an evaporator remote from a compressor and a condenser. The method then includes harvesting the ice into a bin wherein the ice is harvested using refrigerant drawn from a receiver containing liquid refrigerant, and dispensing the ice.
Another aspect of the invention is a beverage dispenser with an integral ice maker. The beverage dispenser comprises a water system including at least one pump, at least one ice-forming mold, and interconnecting lines therefore. The dispenser also comprises a refrigeration system having least one evaporator in heat exchange relationship with the ice forming mold, at least one receiver having an inlet connected to the condenser a liquid outlet connected to an expansion device, and a vapor outlet connected to the at least one evaporator by a valved passageway, and wherein a compressor draws refrigerant from the at least one evaporator and supplies compressed refrigerant to the condenser, the compressor and the condenser both being remotely located from the evaporator. The dispenser also comprises an ice bin for receiving ice made by the water system and the refrigeration system, at least one mixing valve for mixing and dispensing carbonated water and syrup, the carbonated water and syrup chilled by ice from the ice bin, and a housing, wherein the housing contains the water system, the at least one evaporator, the ice bin, and the at least one mixing valve.